Ash brings business

New Zealand orchid and salmon suppliers were working overtime after the volcanic eruption beneath Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull glacier caused ash-related delays across the planet. “The phone started ringing hot from the East Coast of North America,” said Greg Keymer, managing director of Eastern and Global, a cut-flower exporter in New Zealand. “We are getting strong inquiries for Cymbidium Orchids as the Dutch shippers out of Holland can’t supply the North American start of the May wedding market,” Keymer said. “I’m getting calls from Toronto, Chicago, New York and Quebec,” Keymer said. “We normally don’t start exports until late May when the Dutch start to ease off production. Wish we had more to send right now.” When the CEO of fish farm New Zealand King Salmon Grant Rosewarne walked into his New Zealand office on Monday morning and saw an order for salmon from a distributor in Dubai, he thought it was a typo. “They typically order five cartons,” Rosewarne said. “On Monday they ordered 500 cartons.” Airborne ash may have restricted salmon supplies from Norway and other northern European nations, but for Rosewarne and his 420 employees, the distant Iceland volcano has brought an unprecedented boom in business, as customers around the globe try to keep salmon on restaurant menus and store shelves.